This is Okoro, Victor Mela Ph.D, animal breeder and geneticist, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria. I agree with Abdulmojeed Yakubu (Message 13) where he posited that a lot has not been exploited in animal genomics in Africa, citing Dr. I.G. Imumorin in his lecture “Potential exists for application of biotechnology to livestock improvement in the areas of disease resistance, nutrition and reproduction”. Since most of our indigenous breeds are characteristically of low output and in most cases disease resistant, there is need to use genomic technologies in the improvement of these breeds in a mutual way that will also benefit the highly productive ones too. These genomic tools had been proven to speed up generation interval by identifying valuable markers/QTL etc. that will really affect and remove the need for pedigrees in genetic evaluation. Takele Taye Desta (Message 12) also reported that use of genomic technology in developing countries should have emphasis on adaptation traits; hence, the case of yield traits with hardiness, which are unfavourably correlated, can be improved with genomic studies. Genomic studies require state of art laboratories, computing facilities, knowledge and capacity as well as good and steady power supply. All these things require a substantial amount of resources which are largely beyond the capacity of most of the developing countries. Therefore, I suggest that specific ways genomics technologies for livestock improvement in developing countries can be more generally felt are: 1. By developing an aggressive collaborative culture between developing countries’ researchers and developed countries (who have the technologies and infrastructure for such research) in order to complement each other's research findings, as this will help in the exchange of information that will be mutually beneficial to both parties, since so many genes which can enhance the adaptability of certain breeds can be discovered and utilized. This will be more apt in this period of global warming, where the environment is changing, resulting in investigation for adaptation characters to be developed. 2. This development will enhance livestock production in the area of disease resistance. We are currently developing a collaborative research with the University of Pretoria in the area of understanding how differences in genomes of indigenous and exotic breeds affect pathogenesis of pigs to African Swine Fever (ASF). A preliminary investigation in the pandemic areas has shown that indigenous breeds show resistance to this devastating disease, which can claim up to 99% mortality during an outbreak. Further research using genomic technologies can be instrumental to the development of a resistant breed which will be as productive and as hardy as both the exotic and indigenous breeds. Dr. Victor M. O. Okoro (B. Agric. Tech., MSc, Ph.D) RAS. Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit. Department of Animal Science and Technology Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria Email: melavicong4real (at) yahoo.com Alternate email - [log in to unmask] Phone: +2348035428408. [To contribute to this conference, send your message to [log in to unmask] For further information on this FAO Biotechnology Forum, see http://www.fao.org/biotech/biotech-forum/] ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the Biotech-Room3-L list, click the following link: https://listserv.fao.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=Biotech-Room3-L&A=1